This is the Real World
by DonutholeTheNoble
Summary: After the fall of Beacon, Ruby deals with her view on life. Is it like a fairy tale? Or is it cruel and malignant? *One-shot*


**A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first story, so feel free to critique and suggest ideas all you want. Hopefully you enjoy this and find it interesting and entertaining to some degree. I'm working on a few other stories, but I have no idea when they will be posted. Anyways, have fun reading!**

**The goal of this story was to give a short insight into the struggle that Ruby should have had with her world view between Volumes 3 and 4.**

* * *

Ruby watched the television with horror and disgust. The screen showed a crowd of faunas dressed in white trying to march through the streets of Atlas towards the capitol building, carrying signs with pictures of starving faunas workers next to well-fed human ones.

Trying was the operative word.

The protestors were being pelted with an onslaught of whatever the Atlas civilians could find: fruit, silverware, water, chairs. The bloody and tattered faunas that could still walk kept moving forward, ignoring their attackers. A crowd of humans formed and walked in front of the path of the protestors, forcing them to stop. The lead human tossed an onion back and forth between his hands. He then snarled, pulled his arm back with the onion, and –

The television abruptly shut off with a slight pop. Ruby turned around and saw her father with the remote in his hands. "Ruby, it's way past your bed time. You've got your first day at Signal tomorrow."

"But dad! I'm too old for a bed time!"

"Tell me that again when you don't have to get up in four hours to go to school," he lightly grasped her shoulder, "Go upstairs and get some sleep, you've got a big day ahead of you."

Ruby sighed and grabbed her glass of milk as she went to the stairs, "Dad? Why are the faunas so mistreated in Atlas? Why aren't they protected?"

Tai sighed and said in a familiar heiress' voice, strained with hatred, "It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

Ruby gasped, "Why would you say that?!"

Weiss was in front of her now instead of her father, tears running down her face, "I've watched family friends disappear!"

* * *

Ruby staggered back as her surroundings changed in an instant. Her living room and Weiss gone replaced by a plaza filled with rubble and bodies. _People I couldn't save. _Ruby thought to herself as she watched grimm and a few White Fang run out of the breach into downtown Vale. One of the terrorists ran towards her, sword held high in the air and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes.

Ruby reached for Crescent Rose only to find it missing from her side. She looked around for any help, but all of her team was gone, only the bodies of the innocents that died near her. The terrorist was almost on top of her now, so Ruby tried to run away, but her legs would not obey her commands. In desperation, Ruby held up her in hands in futile defense.

The terrorist suddenly turned into Blake, swung the sword to Ruby's neck, and yelled, "Maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Ruby slowly opened her eyes as she took in the fact that she was not dead. But the new sight did not comfort her. Instead of her own death, Pyrrha was on her knees in front of Cinder, arrow already buried in her chest. Cinder's hand on Pyrrha flashed red and Pyrrha turned into ash, carried away by the wind.

Ruby closed her eyes in pain at the death, "Pyrrha!"

She opened her eyes, ready to strangle the life out of Cinder, but she was gone. Instead, Yang stood there, arm gone and the stump bleeding. Her face devoid of any of her usual sunshine and filled with grief.

"Sometimes bad things just happen, Ruby!"

* * *

Ruby was in her bed, but it seemed a lot larger to her. She sat up and saw a poster of the Achievemen band that Yang got her for her ninth birthday before Zwei ate it a few months later. As Ruby got out of bed, she heard a glass shatter in the kitchen, so she quietly went to investigate the noise.

Ruby snuck through the upstairs hallway passing Yang's closed door, down the stairs, and heard a low voice mumbling in the kitchen. She finished going down the stairs and hid by the doorway to the kitchen and poked her head in to see what happened.

Her uncle was standing there, facing away from her holding a glass of rum in one hand and a picture in the other. The rum's broken bottle was scattered on the floor.

"I'm sorry Summer…" Qrow drank the rest of his glass in swig, "I'm so sorry." He then grabbed another bottle of rum from the countertop and pored himself another glass.

Ruby watched on sadly at the sight, tears racing down her face both from the memory of her mom and her uncle's pain. She closed her eyes and wished for her mother to be able to hold her again.

"She had silver eyes…"

Ruby looked up to her uncle staring down at her mournfully. He seemed resigned to a terrible fate as Ozpin walked from behind him. Ozpin examined Ruby for a few seconds then smiled slightly and spoke with a clear purpose in his voice.

"You have silver eyes."

* * *

Ruby was running down one of the hallways in the Amity Colosseum, running fast as she could. But she needed to be faster! One of her friend's lives was at stake!

She pushed herself harder and a few seconds later the arena came into sight. What she saw almost broke her. The crowd was booing and watching in horror at the arena. Pyrrha stood still a few feet away from the bisected body of Penny, wires sparking from her body. Ruby fell on her knees and started crying, barely registering the panic from the commentator's stand and the crowds.

If only she was faster. If only she had thought about the problems Pyrrha and Penny fighting could cause. It was her fault that her friend was now dead, and Ruby cried all the harder.

The noise from the crowd stopped suddenly as footsteps came from behind Ruby, but she was too focused on Penny's body to notice.

Ash from a cigar fell on Ruby's shoulder, filling her noise with the smell of smoke. A familiar villain spoke from her left with sympathy and resignation she had not known he was capable of, "Little Red, Little Red…"

She looked up and saw Roman leaning on his cane, staring out at the arena, "This is the real world."

He motioned towards Penny, "The real world is cold." He then motioned at Pyrrha, still staring in shock at her murder, "The real world doesn't care about spirit."

He looked back at Ruby and raised an eyebrow, inviting her to disagree. She looked away from him, unable to argue. He sighed, sat down next to her, and handed her his cigar. She took it silently and smoked from it. The two enemies sat there, leaning against each other, as the grimm swarmed into the stands to claim their victims.

* * *

Ruby woke up but did not open her eyes, instead just lying and trying to enjoy any comfort the warmth of the blanket brought. She cringed as a cold, winter breeze seeped through the window and into her body. Knowing that she would not be able to go back to sleep, Ruby sat up and stared at the door.

She had some bad dreams since Beacon fell and she woke up from her coma, but the ones she just had… They were not as gruesome as the rest yet were more disturbing to her.

She thought back to the last one she had and who was in it. _Torchwick_. Not as a villain, not as an enemy, but as someone who tried to explain the world to her. Someone who tried to help her understand why everything was horrible.

_Was he right? _Ruby last fight on the airship showed how jaded he was when he looked at life. But was he wrong? He won their fight, maybe not fairly, but he won their fight nonetheless. And instead of him being triumphant, fate was cruel, and he was killed for his victory by an unforgiving world.

Ruby sighed as she got out of her bed and looked out her window at the light dusting of snow on the ground, trying to see the world in the light that she had her whole life before everything fell apart. She wanted to but she could not believe in it whole-heartedly anymore, not when so much bad happened.

With Beacon gone, the place to go next was Haven Academy. But it felt wrong to even think about going since RWBY was shattered. Yang had barely left her room and spoke to Ruby, Blake ran off without saying a word, and Weiss was forcibly taken back to Atlas.

She looked down at her nightstand and picked up a picture frame with a photo of her team. She and Yang had bright smiles on their faces and arms around their respective partners. Blake had a book in her hands and a soft smile on her face while Weiss looked at the sisters in annoyance while trying to hide a genuine smile with her hands.

Ruby stared at the picture longer than she would care to admit.

* * *

Yang sighed as the morning routine of Ruby knocking on her door began again. Since Ruby had woken up from her coma, she had been pestering Yang about feeling better and looking on the bright side of life. It was not like Yang enjoyed rejecting Ruby's optimism, but it was not realistic.

And Yang found that out the hard way.

"Yang, please open up!" Ruby called from the other side of the door.

"Ruby… just go away. I'll talk to you later."

Ruby's voice, much to Yang's surprise, turned bitter, "You've said that every day since I've woken up." Yang chose not to respond and gazed out her window, thinking of better times.

"Yang. Yang! I'm tired of you ignoring me! We need to talk." Yang glanced back to the door and shook her head. "Yang! Ugh! I'm coming in." Ruby tried to open the door, but the lock held it shut. "Really?" sighed Ruby.

"Ruby, I asked you to go away. I don't want to talk to anyone right now."

The door flew open to reveal Ruby with her hand glowing because of the aura infused punch she used on the doorknob. "Well Yang, I need to talk to someone right now, other than Dad. And you are the only candidate."

Yang looked away, "Ruby, I know you think that everything will be fine in the end, but sometimes there are just no happy endings."

"Yang, that's what-"

"And I'm sorry Ruby, but you can't change that. The world isn't full of sunshine and rainbows."

"Yang, I think I agree-"

"I lost my arm, Ruby. You need to give me space, I just don't feel like talking to-"

"You're not the only one who lost something Yang!" Ruby yelled in frustration. Yang looked shocked to see her sister so angry. Ruby punched the wall lightly, "I watched Pyrrha disintegrate and I couldn't do anything to stop it!" Ruby sighed. "I just wanted to talk about things, try to recover together, like sisters, but apparently you'd rather do it by yourself! So fine! I'll leave you alone." Ruby turned around and walked out the door into the hallway.

Ruby stopped in the hallway and turned around to face Yang. She said in a quiet and saddened voice, "The world may be cold like you think, but you are being just as mean."

Before Yang could respond, Ruby used her semblance to run down the stairs and out of the house, leaving a few rose petals outside of Yang's window.

* * *

Ruby walked around the island she grew up on the whole day, trying to figure out why fate seemed so cruel. Why her story could not be like a fairy tale with a happy ending and the hero's glory.

By the time the sun started to set, she was on a hill that was very familiar to her. A single gravestone stuck out of the ground, a lone guardian of the area. Ruby walked up to the gravestone and pulled her hood of her head.

_Summer Rose / Thus Kindly I Scatter_

Ruby sat down next to her mother and leaned on the gravestone, "Mom, I don't know what to think anymore. I always thought you sacrificed yourself for a greater good, but is that even possible?" The gravestone did not answer, "I should be heading to Haven, but what's the point? My team is gone, Beacon is destroyed, and I couldn't save my friends. I wasn't there for Pyrrha when she needed me most! I chose to go after Torchwick instead of staying by her and that may have cost her life! And for what? People still died in the streets, Cinder got away, Yang got hurt, and I still can't help her!" Ruby chocked on a sob.

"I just want things to go back to the way they were…" Ruby put her head in her hands and started crying. The wind picked up a little bit, sending a cold breeze and causing Ruby to shiver. "Guess I better get going. I'll be back soon," Ruby stood up and brushed the light covering of snow on the gravestone. As she took a step back, a white rose petal flew past her and landed on the stone. Ruby watched as it stayed there for a few seconds then was carried away towards the sunset.

She stood transfixed watching it fade away, realizing that her mom would not have wanted to see her like this. She died to make the world a better place, even if it seemed hopeless.

She needed to believe that the world could be changed for the better. If not her sake, then for Yang, and for Weiss. For Blake, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. She needed to do so for Pyrrha and Penny since they could not anymore.

She needed to go to Haven and get stronger so her friends and family would never lose so much again.

Like Summer had wanted for her.

Ruby's doubts diminished as she stood there watching the sunset, imagining her mother watching over her with that smile Ruby fondly remembered.

Ruby smiled, "Thanks mom. I love you too."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the story. I chose and made those scenes in the dreams as the dark times in Ruby's life paired with words that counters Ruby's unrelenting optimism in the show. She needed a clear conflict to have character growth from after the fall of Beacon that was not given in the show.**


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